LIMA, Peru – When a magnitude 8 earthquake crumbled houses and toppled churches in Pisco in August 2007, millions of dollars’ worth of aid poured into Peru from around the world.Read More

ANNAPOLIS – With issues like same-sex marriage, the death penalty and immigration likely to dominate much of the upcoming session of the Maryland General Assembly, it’s shaping up to be a contentious year in Annapolis.Read More

CHICAGO – Responding to what they called the increasingly harsh political rhetoric directed at undocumented immigrants, Priests for Justice for Immigrants held a Dec. 18 press conference to mark International Migrants’ Day with a pastoral “invitation and challenge” to the people of the Archdiocese of Chicago.Read More

WASHINGTON – Under a new U.S. tax law, people who have donated to charities providing relief to Haitians since the Jan. 12 earthquake can take a tax deduction for the contribution on their 2009 tax return instead of their 2010 return.Read More

Heidi Montag has given new meaning to the concept of one-stop shopping. The 23-year-old reality TV star – one of those who is famous for being famous – underwent 10 plastic-surgery procedures in one day, as pin pointed in People magazine and now scrutinized online.Read More

BETHLEHEM, West Bank – The rows of framed letters and baby pictures are testimony that the Milk Grotto – where Mary is said to have nursed Jesus as the Holy Family fled to Egypt – has been much more than a pilgrimage to many couples.Read More

WASHINGTON – The clergy sex abuse scandal continued to have a major financial impact on U.S. Catholic dioceses in 2007 as multimillion-dollar settlements were reached with abuse victims and dioceses funded their share by selling church property, reducing staff and, in at least one case, soliciting contributions from priests and lay Catholics.Read More

Whether it’s monitoring the behavior of penguins, prairie dogs and chimps or getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse of food preparation for elephants, summer campers are in for hands-on learning at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.Read More